Why Did Bent Really Move?

Ask any Sunderland fan what they now think of Darren Bent after he turned his back on the club that revitalised his football career.

After Harry Redknapp slated him missing an open goal, Steve Bruce came to Bent’s rescue and offered him a chance to start performing at the highest level again.

His first season with SAFC resulted in him winning the North East writers player of the year award along with 25 goals.

England manager Fabio Cappello noticed his scoring ability and even quoted him ‘having a bright future for England’. So why has Darren joined a club 17th in the league when he clearly enjoyed being a Sunderland player.

What has went on in the background? How can a player who last month said he wanted to become a Sunderland legend suddenly want £30k extra a week and hand in a transfer request?

Has his agent forced all of this? By the look on Darren’s face in his unveiling as a new Villa player he hardly looked ecstatic at joing Houllier’s new regime.

Bent said today as he turned his back on Sunderland: ‘People have asked why I swapped a top six club for one currently in the bottom four. But I believe Villa are in a false position, they have been sixth for the past three seasons, and it is a new challenge for me.”

It seems to make no sense but no player is bigger than the club and we can now move on with £24m at our disposal.

This money can go towards three to four new quality players in the crusade to finish in the top six this campaign.